


(no more) let life divide

by hawktasha



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But he doesn't stay dead for long, Canon compliant-ish, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everything would make sense in the end I promise, F/M, Lee from Ba Sing Se, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Strangers to Lovers, Temporary Amnesia, Temporary Character Death, Time Skips, Time Travel, What else is new, like a lot, not really - Freeform, sorta - Freeform, zuko dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawktasha/pseuds/hawktasha
Summary: Zuko dies in his Agni Kai against Azula. . ., but did he really die?What happens when a God takes a liking to a human, and gift them with the gift of eternal life? What prices and choices would the human have to pay? And more importantly, how could he be free of it all?
Relationships: Jin/Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Past Mai/Zuko - Relationship, Sokka/Suki (Avatar), past Sokka/Yue, past katara/aang - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	1. this is the end (or is it just the beginning?)

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS A PROLOGUE OF A BIGGER STORY I'M PLANNING ON WRITTING.
> 
> Have that in mind when some of the chapters would feel a little (a lot) like a fever dream.  
> And please, read the notes at the end and comment your opinions on... this weird take.

“No lighting today?” he remembers saying, his stance strong, his nerves bursting. “What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll redirect it?” 

And in retrospective, it all came down to that very moment; he just didn’t know it at the time. Or maybe he would have, if he was smarter, or a strategist, or something. . . more; but those were always his sister’s _traits_ were’t them?

It didn’t matter, he was ready. Whatever the result, he knew he was ready. Maybe sometime ago, a very long time ago, he would be afraid of his impending death, but now? Zuko has been ready to die from months, maybe even years. He was ready for anything.

Or that’s what he thought until his sister’s words cut through the cacophony that was invading his mind.

— _“Oh, I’d show you lighting!”_

Or that’s what he thought until he saw where the lighting was supposed to strike. 

_Blue, not red_.

In retrospective, he thinks he was supposed to see that coming. 

Looking back, he strongly believes it was all his fault.

After all, it was Azula’s signature move to strike where it hurts the most. _Wasn’t that why Uncle always said ‘do not let her aim for your heart’?_ But he did exactly what he was told not to do, just that she didn’t aim for the muscle in question. Zuko couldn’t care less about that organ, no when the thing he loved the most was about to be burned to a crisp.

If anyone asked him why he did what he did, his answer would have been simple, easy: there was nothing else he would do.

If anyone asked him if he regretted it, he would not hesitate in saying: I’ll do it again, over and over. 

In comparison, he thinks, it wasn’t a bad way to go at all.

He didn’t deserve a life of peace, not after his role in the war.

He didn’t deserve a life, if she got to lose her.

But most important, he didn’t want a life at all, if she wasn’t in it.

He barely registers what comes next, after his jump.

He barely remembers screaming, her name or a denial against his sister's actions? He can’t remember. He didn’t quite care.

He just remembers jumping, the pain, hitting the cold tiles like a puppet cut out of its masters strings. He supposed it’d be a slow death, he supposed he’d suffer how each and every nerve would burn from the inside out, suffer each beating his charred heart would take until it’d stopped; but in the end, it wasn’t that bad.

He thinks —maybe he dreams it all— he hears her screaming his name. 

He thinks he senses her touch after a few minutes —or maybe hours? He cannot tell, he could not know anything beside the burning in the air, the pain in his body—.

He is sure he imagines her words — _”Please Zuko, wake up, you can’t die! Not like this, please I love you!”_ —, as sure as he is that his couldn’t leave his chapped lips —or maybe they did, _did his voice always sound so broken?_ — _“It’s okay, you’re okay._ ” 

He thinks maybe he said he loved her, but he cannot be sure.

He doesn’t stay awake past that.

Then, all he remembers is **darkness.**

  
  


* * *

  
  


_No more let life_ **_divide_ **

_what_ **_death_ ** _can join together_

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm really excited about this story.  
> I promise it would end making sense, sort of; it's also me trying out how to work out this through because it may or not be a real wip, like novel wip not fanfic wip. If I can make it through this thing first, this is me trying.
> 
> As I said, and you'll see, this is a 3 chapters fic, but short ones.  
> It won't stay this way for long, this is in fact a longer story, one I won't be publishing until I have it almost wrapped out. I don't want it to be a mess, and trust me, is easy to mess everything up a lot.
> 
> Idk if your familiar with the show 'Forever', but my main inspiration comes from it (the whole dying but nope, not death thing), it also mixes a lot (and I mean A LOT) of other things such as mythology and books and damn; as I said: easy to mess.
> 
> I hope you like it, I hope you understand the little easter egg i'm giving you; and for the love of the spirits PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR OPINIONS; such as: you'd like it, you'd want to see more, how you find the idea
> 
> Please, absent of leaving mean comments; constructive criticism is welcome but in the moment you're mean, you're out.
> 
> Love you all! And thank you for keeping with my siliness <3
> 
> (Also, if anyone is reading my other WIP 'Crawling back to you', no i haven't forgot about it, i'm currently wrapping the next chapter and working in variating the plot and time lines. If you don't and you want to, go check it out! <3)


	2. before is after

_News of the death of the Fire Prince travelled faster than airships._

_The Fire Princess mind slipped from her as fast as them._

_The newly crowned Fire Lord, too old for righting the wrongs of his country, emerged from behind the curtains, the Fire Sages at his back._

_He kneeled in front of them, facing the crowd._

_“Today, the war has come to an end.” he spoke, just before a cheer and shouts escaped the mass of people in front of him. But his face didn’t show any happiness, nor did the faces of the children that helped end the war, who played a bigger role than anyone in ending the suffering of the people._

_As the crowd cheered, as the new Fire Lord raised with the crown settled in his hair, they learned to hide their grief._

_As the days passed, they learned to not speak his name again._

_Prince Zuko was dead. And death was final, so they must go on. For him, for what he fought for._

* * *

  
  
  


He woke up with a start, and a foggy mind.

He didn't understand where he was, or who he was. 

Everything was dark, and cold, around him. _Was he wet?_

He was wet. He was in the water.

Coughing, he coaxed the liquid outside his lungs and made a move to get to shore.

No doubt it was dark, judging the position of the moon up in the sky it was well past midnight, he was sure. Almost sure. _How was he sure?_

He tried to remember how he got there, but nothing came to his mind.

_Where was he?_

He combed a hand through his hair —damp, as everything else he supposed—. 

He moved to his body next, trying to coax the water out of his ropes or else he was going to be sick for sure. Just that, as he did, he realized one thing.

Well, two in fact, but one was a little more worrying than the other.

He was wearing no clothes, nothing at all.

“What the hell--” 

There has to be an explanation, he supposed.

A fucking good explanation as why was he in the middle of a fucking lake, with no clothes on and a huge scar —maybe a burn?— in the middle of his chest.

A freaking good explanation as to why he didn’t recall a single thing about himself or the strange situation he was in.

* * *

In the end he doesn’t get his explanation, but at least he gets clothes.

He supposes his situation is not that bad —and has improved slightly— after all. Not when a stranger found him shivering in his birthday suit and didn’t run or tried to kill him. 

He thinks he might be a little luckier than he originally supposed, lake accident aside.

After being dressed and parade from town to town, he supposes his life is not as bad as it could be, even if he doesn’t recall anything about the  before , not even his fucking name.

His luck gets a little better a few weeks after he found a job in the walled city of Ba Sing Se.

He didn’t even know what to expect of being there, why he went there for starters. He just did, call it instinct or his silver lining. He didn’t care. He got the impression, whoever he might be, he didn’t care about a lot of things in life.

Is in his new job, where she finds him, all smiles and blushes he doesn't understand and laughter. Is in his new city where he finds out his name.

_Lee_.

Something about the syllable rolling out the stanger’s tongue doesn’t sit quit right with him, but the way she talks and the stories she tells wake something inside his chest. He supposes he can live with this quite right.

  
  


* * *

Is inside those city walls and through its shops and buildings where he learns to laugh again, maybe for the first time, —he doesn’t remember to ever laugh, he doesn’t remember the  before —.

Is thanks to this bouncy girl that he finds something about himself, everyday a little more, a little newer. And maybe it wasn’t things he did or liked in the before, or maybe they were, but he didn’t care anymore, he didn’t want to care.

He learned to live this new life of his. 

He learned to love this girl.

And thanks to Jin, a few years after their first encounter —or reunion—, he learned to be a new thing, to love someone else.

And just as quick —or slow— he learned all those new things, he lost them. As fast as lighting to the core, in the form of a knife through his ribs.

He knew better than to be in the Lower Rings at night, he knew better than to be unprotected too.  
And maybe life was mocking him, making him lose everything he built once again just when he was starting to get on his feet again; but once again, darkness engulfed him.

* * *

He was back at that fucking lake. He didn’t even need to look around him, he remembered the shore. He also was naked, again.

But this time, he did remember. He remembered Jin and his son, he remembered his job at the tea shop and their little apartment. He remembered being happy —a little, almost—, he remembered feeling alive. 

He remembered dying, so _what was he doing here again?_

“Am. . . Am I dead?” he asked out loud, _why_ , he didn’t know. Maybe for the sake of listening to his own voice, maybe for trying to understand if he was losing his mind.

The last thing he expected was the light. Or an answer.

“Oh no, my son; you’re far from dead, you see.” the light — _was it a flame?_ — spoke, getting closer to him each passing second, until it was barely a couple metres away, floating above him between some tree branches. _How is the tree not burning?_

He found himself suddenly mute. He couldn’t conjure his mind to say something, _anything_ really as the flames kept undulating over his head. He barely managed to get himself in a better position, reclining his back against some tree trunk. 

“Cat got your tongue?” the flame mocked him, just it wasn’t just a regular flame anymore. No, the. . . thing, whatever it was, just changed forms and became a some sort of cat, a huge cat, a tiger? But it was impossible, those animals didn’t exist. Tigersharks, sure, but regular tigers? No, he was sure all that had to be an hallucination. 

Maybe this time he was actually dead, even.

_Wait_ , he thought, _this time? Where did that thought come?_

“I can see the wheels turning inside your head, little human.” the flame tiger hissed, jumping —or maybe floating— down the branches, now standing tall in front of him.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

“Figured… what?” He hated how his voice was barely a whisper at first, and then became a whine soon after. He felt himself starting to choke in his own saliva, his heart hammering inside his ribcage.

Whatever this was, death or life hallucination, it was starting to make him feel dizzy. But then again, his dizziness maybe was related to the fastening of his heart instead of whatever his eyes were showing him.

“I’d take that as a ‘no’, Prince Zuko.”

“Prince Zuko is dead.” He didn’t know where those words came from, they were out of his mouth too quickly, too unthinked. But they were true, he remembered reading a royal missive about the end of the word in one of the town's libraries. 

“It may appear he is, you’re right.”

“Appear?”

“Oh yes, my son. You see, I saw you dying, from my own gift to you people no less.”

“Your. . . gift?” 

“You don’t recognize me, prince? Your god, Agni?”

“I’m not a prince.”

“Maybe not now, but you once were. You see, I couldn’t let you die, you were too important.”

“I am not this Zuko you say!” He shouted, to whoever walked on him in that moment it would seem he had completely lost his mind, screaming at a talking flame —if said talking flame was there at all, if he wasn’t dead in some dark alley—.

But just as his words left his mouth, just as the lips of the flaming creature curled in a sadistic smile, he couldn’t help the flashes that flooded his mind. 

— _The lighting, the girl in blue, a sacrifice._

“You say so, but you’re remembering, aren’t you?” The creature laughed, shaking his tail from side to side as it rounded the trunk he leaned on. Just as the dark haired man thought he had finally left to be alone, the tiger head appeared over his right shoulder, his body circling the tree behind him. 

“How aren’t you burning everything?” He shrieked, jumping from his seat. 

He didn’t know what happened, but fear engulfed his body the moment the flame came close to his face.

_Or did he knew?_ he couldn’t help but think as the flashes came back again; this time of a different arena, a younger boy, a crueler man.

“Is that the only thing that worries you about this. . . situation?” The flame mocked again, slowly walking in his direction. “Tsk, tsk; you humans, so stubborn sometimes. But always so stupid. You should know right now who you are, and yet you refuse to believe me. A god! What does that say of your insufferable egos?”

“I don’t understand what is that you want with me, just leave me alone!” Lee managed to shout, his whole figure trembling. From rage or fear, he couldn’t quite tell.

“No can do, I’m afraid.” The tiger shaked his head, moving to a seated position. “One of the greater spirits forced me to come here today, my prince. She said I had to right my wrongs, even if I myself can’t think of any wrongdoing.” 

“What does it have to be with me?”

“She sends me to help you remember, prince; so you know your place in this world. So you understand my gift.”

“Your gift?”

“You died, Prince Zuko.”

“I am not him!”

“Tsk, tsk. So stubborn.” The flame purred. “Tell me. . . do you remember the _lighting_?”

He had his answer on the tip of his tongue. He was about to scream and lash out and just get the hell out of there before he lost the little mind he had when everything happened.

At first, it all went black.

But as soon as he started to feel relief, he felt it. The electricity in the air, the hot of the flames around him. 

He opened his eyes, not remembering closing them. But instead of the talking flame in front of him he found a girl. _Azula_ , he remembered her name being. _Her sister_.

And suddenly, as his feet started moving and the lighting left her fingertips, everything returned. 

Every single memory he thought he lost. Every single emotion and fear. Why he had a scar in his face and another in his chest. Why he rather die than watch her _dying_.

But he died. He fucking died. _Why was he breathing then?_

“I see you remember now.” The flame spoke again, but when he tried to look for it, it wasn’t anywhere.

“Wha--”

“As I said, you died. But you were important and I couldn’t help but. . . move some strings.” The god — _was he really talking to Agni?_ — continued, sounding further than before. “But something went wrong, and you lost your sight in this world. You lost your sight in yourself, my prince.”

“That’s-- That’s why I didn’t remember?”

“See? I knew you were slightly smarter than the rest.”

“But. . ., what about my life?”

“Which one?” There was that mocking tone again. “Or I guess it doesn’t really mind.”

“Wha--”

“See. . ., with my gift, there’s also a counterpart. A small price to pay sort of speaks.”

“What are you talking about?”

“My prince, oh, where are your manners?” The voice tsked. “What was I saying? Oh, yes, the price! The thing is, you’ve been given a second chance. Or multiple chances, if you may.”

“You mean. . . I did die, didn’t I? Both times?”

“Yes prince, you did.”

“And the price?”

“I was getting to it! Such poor manners.” Agni spluttered. “As I was saying. . . you have been given multiple lifes. Death won’t be a threat, for each time you cross its door you’d get back to this world as new. But. . .” He paused, and this time the flame reappeared in which seemed to be a human-like figure. “None of your accountainces, from the life you’d live previous to the death, would recognize you once you come back from the darkness.”

“What!?”

“You’d live and you’d die multiple times, my prince; and each time it would be a new life again.”

“But I don’t want a new life!”

“Would you rather be dead?”

Zuko startled, trying to compose himself and give a proper answer, but before he dared to open his mind the figure flickered and its voice interrupted the forest silence again.

“I feel you don’t believe me, my son, but I am not deceiving you. Try as you might, you’d see.”

And just as it appeared once, it disappeared back in the air; leaving the man completely frozen at the lake's shore.

But he didn’t stay in that place for long.

No. Just as the words the spirit flame sink in his short circuiting brain, they boy who was once the heir of the Fire Nation throne ran as fast as he could in the direction the closest thing to home layed. 

It didn’t matter how fast he ran or how much the air burned in his lungs with each breath, Agni’s latest words kept ringing in his ears again and again. _‘None would recognize you.’_ He kept running. ‘ _You’d see.’_ He didn’t want to think.

His heart was trying to escape his chest by the time he arrived at his family door. He had only made a stop in his way to get some clothes, and even if he knew he hadn’t waste that much time, that only a few hours tops had passed between his —second— death and the present he couldn’t help but feel a whole eternity had passed.

Without wasting much time, his knuckles knocked against the wooden door, and he dared to hold his breath until he saw the woman he loved behind it once it opened.

“Do. . . do you need anything, sir?” She muttered, and Zuko couldn’t help to look at the distress that showed in her face. _Were her eyes red? Was she crying?_ But before he could even speak, a wail from inside the house reached their ears, and the woman couldn’t hide her shiver.

“Sorry. . . That's. . .” She bitted her lower rip, tears forming in her eyes anew. “My husband just died, do you need anything?”

“Jin? What are you talking about?”

“Pardon? Do I know you?” She scrunched her nose, and he knew she was trying to place him in her memory. 

He was about to answer when he saw the shadow of their son crawling in the living room. His living room, _their_ living room.

_Was Agni telling the truth, then?_ And if, _what was he supposed to do then?_

“You don’t recognize me?”

“Should I?”

“. . . I guess not. Sorry for bothering.”

He didn’t dare to look back as the door closed, he didn’t dare to stay in the city either.

He walked back to the forest, next to the lake, and just let himself fall to the floor on his knees. He hadn’t cried, he couldn’t. It hurt too much, and yet, the tears didn’t fall.

_What was he supposed to do?_ He could go back, he supposed. Tell her the truth. _And then what?_ _She’d think you’re crazy, or you’d die again and you’d have to start over_. 

He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to think, couldn’t do it.

So he did the only thing his body seemed to let him.

He screamed. Up to the sky. He shouted in his name and in his family name.

He cursed the spirits and sweared and shouted.

And when his voice broke, and his bones tired, he just lied on the floor curled onto himself.

He thought he had wished to die a lot of times before. He never wished to die more than in that exact moment.

  
  
  
  



	3. the beginning (of the end)

In the end, anything matters anymore. 

Life passes around him, and comes and goes in a blurry. Always the same, and sometimes not quite. 

Months, years, decades. 

Even centuries. 

Everything he once knew has been forgotten for long. His bending one of the few things that still reminded him of that longed past, of the friends he made and lost, of his son. But just as time flies and leaves him, Zuko became a master at feeling unbothered. 

Maybe in another life, if he didn’t got his curse _gift_ he would have been afraid of becoming his father, of transforming into a cunning doppelgänger of his forefathers. Now? It’s only the power of being unbothered what helps him forward, _always forward_. 

After all, what good is to dwell in things you cannot change? 

Oh, how Zuko wishes he could change them though. 

You see, immortality may sound appetizing to anyone a little ambitious. They may think of the thousand things they wanted to try or accomplish, the people they’d get to know and the things they’d learn. They would never dwell on the bad things. The things you lose. The people. And there’s a lot of both these things. 

The problem with living for 200 years isn't the loneliness or the pain or the loss.

. . . Okay, sure, it is those things. 

But what really gets you, is when life ceases to surprise you.

Because without surprise, without the exhilarating raise of your heartbeat and the rush of adrenaline in your veins, what are even humans. 

When deplored of such emotion, life gets dull, monotone. Boring. 

That’s the best way Zuko would describe his life nowadays. Monotonous. Routine. 

Waking up in the morning, working, going to sleep at night. With a few alterations here and there, but in the end always the same result, **lonely**. 

He had made a couple of friends along the years, a few acquaintances, but he tried not to get too close to any of them. _What was the point?_ They’d go on with their life’s, grow old, get married, _die_. 

Meanwhile he was still stuck in there, in a half life. 

Without the ability to die, he ended up losing the ability to _live_. 

Zuko was _fine_. Most of the time at least. 

He was accustomed to this life of no surprises, of moving through the motions as the decades pass by, of never bothering to be recognized.

That’s why, when a _familiar_ voice came to his ears, the first thing he did was make a double take. For sure, his memory was playing with him, if not his mind sure was. There’s no way _that_ voice could belong to anyone in this time, _that_ voice was reserved for his dreams and usual nightmares.

And he definitely was losing his mind because when he searches for the owner of the voice he is met with a very familiar face and even more familiar eyes staring back at him.

 _That was new_.

But not enough to pull the air out of his lungs or make him feel like a caged animal, like the room was closing onto himself even though he was out in the open air.

No; what made his skin crawl and his heart clench in motions similar at which once was recognized as fear was the look the woman directed at him, the emotions hid behind her eyes, the words that left her red painted lips.

“ _Zuko?_ ”

And in the future; if he ever gets to retell this meeting, really; he would lie and say he reacted differently, braver. But the truth is, that in the moment the question paired with the voice he once grew with left the female’s lips, he ran away. And he didn’t stop running until he was hidden in the safety of his apartment once again, his back against the wooden door.

In his panic strike, he didn’t even remember where he was supposed to be or was he even going before the encounter; he just knew he needed to bolt and _fast_.

And maybe it was due to his erratic breathing and the rapid — _too fast, slow down_ — rhythm of his beating heart that he didn’t realise the change in his surroundings. Or how the high windows of his apartment started to fog, and the carpeted floor became dusty. How the door behind his back ceased to exist.

It took him several minutes to notice all the changes, and again, he would lie about _how_ he realized them. Because he in fact didn’t, not until a femenine voice broke the silence that enveloped him like the fog that raised up from nowhere, almost making him jump out of his skin.

“Agni did advise me you were a little jumpier than most _._ ” The voice mocked, in a sing-song tone.

“Where am I? Who are you?” 

“So many questions, human, but little manners.”

“Excuse me for not being happy about encountering more spirits after what the last did to me.” he spat, his rage barely at bay.

“Oh, yes. I apologise for my son’s behaviour. You see, firebender, I advise him against what he did but he never listened. And once his deed was done I couldn’t reverse it. Even we, gods, have a few rules we must follow, and thus my hands were tied. Figuratively.” 

“Agni is your son?”

“That’s all that matters to you, human?” The voice raised, and through the fog appeared a woman figure enveloped by a white light. “You’re all very simple, I forgot every time.”

“I just. . .” _What._ “Nevermind.”

“If you must know, yes he is indeed my son. As are the other deities from your world. Although not in the sense it is for you humans. I am _Raava_ , the mere creator of those below me, but nothing more and nothing else.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway. I came here because your time has come, Zuko of the Fire Nation.”

“My time?” He couldn’t help but light at her words. _Could it mean. . ._ “Am I _dying?_ ”

“Dying?” She tilted her head to the side, but caught herself quickly and regained her posture above him. “Oh, no. Well, not yet at least.” 

“Oh.”

“You’d like to die? But. . . You humans are always trying to live the most you can.”

“I wouldn’t call what I do living. I’m sick of this. . . _gift_ Agni imposed on me. I wanted to live once, yes. But is it living when you never age? When everyone you meet would end leaving in the end? When everything changes but you?” He tried to keep his voice even, not let the rage out, but it was becoming impossible for him to remain calmed. _How dare she?_

“I suppose you have your point, yes.” She nodded, but it seemed like she wasn’t really listening nor paying attention. “What brought me here then may interest you, prince.”

“I haven’t been a prince in a long time.”

“Details.” She tsked. “What was I saying? Oh, yes! After my son gifted you with the eternal flame of life, I couldn’t do anything but watch over you, not interfering. He already put a toll on my plans for you, he already changed your destiny, but at the time it didn’t really matter. My hands were tied, and everything continued in its natural path. It wasn’t until much later that I, along with some of my other children, that we realized how mistaken I was. How your destiny had altered the balance in the world.”

“The. . . balance?”

“Yes. You’ll see, my prince; you weren’t an important key at the time. More like a gift I owed to some other _soul_ , but what you would have become in the future. . . At first, as I said, everything was balanced, everything seemed fine. But I’m sure you’ve noticed by now how much the world has changed, right? I’m sure you’d realized no one but you have the powers we gifted you hundreds of years ago.”

“Powers?”

“Earth, fire, air and water.”

“You mean my bending?”

“Of course, human. Who did you think gave those powers to you, humans?”

“It makes sense.”

“And haven’t you noticed, how anyone but you have that power now?”

He did notice. But he couldn’t really explain when or why he did. He just. . . he just knew that some time ago, no one seemed to know what bending was aside from legends. How once he bended by accident in the street and had to run for his life. A couple decades ago he did meet with another bender once, but when the authorities found both her and him and what they were able to do, they locked them up and forced them to use their bending for their personal gain. There were others, he knew, that used benders to experiment with them, torture them even.

Then, a while later, bending became a complete _myth_.

“Yes.” he croaked, her throat dry imagining the worst out of the conversation. “Yes I have.”

“While I was worried with other mundane problems, my counterpart became restless. He hid under my nose and started his own plans. He always wanted power, he always wanted more; but apparently he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Until recently, you see, I didn’t see how wrong I was. He worked under my nose to control the world, to control you humans; but he knew he couldn’t succeed in his task if you still hold on the powers of the gods. More specifically, if the most powerful of you were to be against him.”

“Are you talking about the Avatar?”

“I am, indeed.”

“But if there’s no benders, how is it going to be an Avatar?”

"There is an Avatar, and there is benders Zuko. Here is where I stepped in. I was able to bring back a line from the past, the strongest benders that there were, the ones that once already had faced evil and defeated. The new avatar would need them.”

“And what does it have to be with me?”

“Prince Zuko, I am talking about your timeline.” She answered, and Zuko could almost see a smile in the goddess face. “You’ve already encountered one from your past.”

“Do you mean. . .?”

“Yes, prince. She was real.”

"My _sister_.”

“Do not be mistaken. There had to be a. . . few alterations. For this to be accomplished. Those from your timeline do not hold any memory of the past, nor are able to bend yet. You’d need to make them remember, you’d need to make them see who they are and what they’re capable of. And then, you’d have to find and train the Avatar, as you once did before.”

“Find the Avatar?” He couldn’t help it. When that question left his lips, he couldn’t contain the bitter laugh that followed. _Once again_ , he thought, _why does life always mock me?_ “But if you brought my timeline back, doesn’t it mean Aang would be the Avatar?”

“I am afraid not. My spirit was already in someone from this world, but because of Vaatu’s actions, it’s weakened and needs to be awoken by an outer force. It cannot be his doing, or he’d take the avatar for himself and the world would be doomed.”

“Fucking fantastic.”

“Manners!” She shouted. 

“Why should I do it?”

“Hm?”

“Why should I help you? I’ve been living the past hundred years without even knowing of your existence. Your son cursed me with this never ending life! Why should I do anything for you, when you couldn’t even let me free of this?”

“Oh, didn’t I mention it? You’d be free of my son’s gift, prince. Once the world is balanced again, you’d get your death back. You’d live and grow old and died, once and for all.”

“Really?”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

“No!”

“Fantastic.”

“But.”

“But?” 

“How am I even gonna do this? I have no clue who _she_ or he the Avatar could be, who could be even a bender if bending doesn’t show by itself.”

“You’d have to find your friends.”

“I know! But even after that, I don’t have any way to start! I cannot just randomly search for the Avatar again!”

“Do not worry, Zuko of the Fire Nation. This time you’d have **_help_**.”

And with those parting words, the mist surrounding both their figures disappeared, and so did the light. After a couple seconds, everything around him morphed and changed, and Zuko was left again on the floor of his apartment.

He shaked his head, not being able to decide if _whatever_ happened was some kind of fever dream that had actually happened. Apparently, at least a couple hours had happened, as the sky had darkened. 

He was on his way to the kitchen, when the sound of the ring of his door’s bell caught his attention. He rubbed his hand over his eyes and opened it, confused at who could be, but stopped dead on his track once he got a look at the slender figure in front of him.

“I think we need to talk, Zu-zu.” Azula muttered, her arms crossed over her chest. And after a couple of seconds, she straightened her posture and let a teasing smirk paint her face. “Or should I say _Fire Lord_?”

_What was what Uncle always said?_

Oh, yes; _destiny was a funny thing indeed_.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm really excited about this story.  
> I promise it would end making sense, sort of; it's also me trying out how to work out this through because it may or not be a real wip, like novel wip not fanfic wip. If I can make it through this thing first, this is me trying.
> 
> As I said, and you'll see, this is a 3 chapters fic, but short ones.  
> It won't stay this way for long, this is in fact a longer story, one I won't be publishing until I have it almost wrapped out. I don't want it to be a mess, and trust me, is easy to mess everything up a lot.
> 
> Idk if your familiar with the show 'Forever', but my main inspiration comes from it (the whole dying but nope, not death thing), it also mixes a lot (and I mean A LOT) of other things such as mythology and books and damn; as I said: easy to mess.
> 
> I hope you like it, I hope you understand the little easter egg i'm giving you; and for the love of the spirits PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR OPINIONS; such as: you'd like it, you'd want to see more, how you find the idea
> 
> Please, absent of leaving mean comments; constructive criticism is welcome but in the moment you're mean, you're out.
> 
> Love you all! And thank you for keeping with my siliness <3
> 
> (Also, if anyone is reading my other WIP 'Crawling back to you', no i haven't forgot about it, i'm currently wrapping the next chapter and working in variating the plot and time lines. If you don't and you want to, go check it out! <3)


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